Every Saturday, I host a feature called Kid Konnection -- a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books. This week I'm going to share with you a great book that celebrates the U.S. presidents as we celebrate our nation this weekend.
What if a zombie apocalypse or a robot uprising threatened the nation and you had the power to recruit some of the nation’s finest presidents to help save the day?
By studying the most successful squads in history, Daniel O’Brien has identified the perfect ingredients for a victorious team.
Which president would you choose for: the Brain, the Brawn, the Moral Compass, the Loose Cannon, and the Roosevelt?
Choose wisely—the fate of the world is in your hands! -- Crown
If you're kids are anything like mine, then they love U.S. History. I know that sounds strange, but it started at a very young age when they used to eat on their U.S. President placemat. They would read the information on each president, and it wasn't too long before I realized that my kids might know more about presidential history than I do.
Years later, my daughter has taken AP U.S. History and did very well in it; and I have a feeling that my son will follow in her footsteps. They must have gotten their interest from their father -- they definitely didn't get it from me. Although I will say that if I'm going to "learn" about the presidents, then YOUR PRESIDENTIAL FANTASY DREAM TEAM by Daniel O'Brien and illustrated by Winston Rowntree is the book I want to read!
YOUR PRESIDENTIAL FANTASY DREAM TEAM is fantastic! It is geared towards kids ages ten and up; and while I can't wait for Booking Son to check out this book, I found that I adored it... and I think many young adult and adults will agree. I have to be honest when I say that I didn't read this 250+ book straight through, but I did read a few chapters on the presidents I like... and a few that I don't. This book is not only educational. It is extremely entertaining and I couldn't put it down.
YOUR PRESIDENTIAL FANTASY DREAM TEAM includes most of the U.S. presidents -- or at least Washington through Reagan. Within each chapter, there is a brief description including term, political party, spouse, children, birthdate, death date, and one fun fact. And then the fun begins...
The rest of the chapter includes details from each man's life, and I can't begin to express how funny these bios are. I can pretty much guarantee that you've never learned about the presidents in such a fun way! There are also some terrific illustrations that are the perfect complement to the tone of this book. Besides having these entertaining chapters on each of the presidents' lives, the book also includes listings of reference materials for further reading and/or surfing.
I'm pretty sure that I can't give you a true sense of the humor in this book but I'll give it a try. Let's take Ronald Reagan... the sub-title of the chapter is "Ronald Reagan is Probably a Superhero." The author throws out all of the issues to plague Reagan including viral pneumonia, diverticulosis, a cancerous colon tumor and a close-range bullet; and then proceeds to tell readers that none of them had anything to do with Ronald Reagan's death. He then discusses just how fit Reagan was ("and that includes people who juggle Indian clubs"). Based on these facts, he concludes that it would be remiss not to mention that Reagan and the superhero Wolverine have quite a few similarities including metal bones. Case in point: the bullet that hit Reagan bounced off his rib! He goes on for a few more pages like this!
I love YOUR PRESIDENTIAL FANTASY DREAM TEAM and can't recommend it enough. Even if you think you know a lot about the U.S. presidents, I promise this book will teach you and thing or two. And you might never look at these men the same way in the future!
Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this book.
If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to grab the little button too!
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2 comments:
That sounds like the perfect book for this election year.
Our kids had President placemats too. That's how they learned all the presidents and their order. In fact we still pull it out from time to time. This sounds like a book the boys would have liked when they were younger! Guess Kathy and I have the same book this week! At least we both loved it!
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